Britain's new spy chief has issued a stark warning that Russia is actively trying to "bully, fearmonger and manipulate" the United Kingdom and its allies through hostile actions deliberately kept below the threshold of all-out war.
A World Between Peace and War
In her first major public address on Monday 15 December 2025, Blaise Metreweli, the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), stated the nation is now "operating in a space between peace and war". She emphasised that this precarious state is not temporary but an active reshaping of the global order with profound security implications.
Speaking at the agency's London headquarters, Metreweli said the frontline in this new era of conflict is everywhere: "Online, on our streets, in our supply chains, in the minds and on the screens of our citizens." She argued that everyone in society has a responsibility to understand these pervasive dangers.
The Russian Menace and 'Grey Zone' Hostilities
Breaking with tradition, the MI6 director chose to focus her speech squarely on the threat from an "aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia". She accused President Vladimir Putin of seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO allies.
Metreweli detailed a growing wave of "grey zone" hostilities orchestrated by Moscow, designed to inflict damage without triggering a conventional military response. These tactics include:
- Cyber attacks targeting critical national infrastructure.
- Deploying drones to buzz airports and military bases.
- Aggressive maritime and underwater activity in allied waters.
- State-sponsored acts of arson and sabotage on home soil.
- Sophisticated propaganda and influence operations to exploit societal divisions.
While not specifying individual incidents, her remarks follow a series of concerning events, including mysterious drone sightings over Denmark, Germany and Sweden, a Russian spy ship off the Scottish coast, and a fire at a London warehouse sending aid to Ukraine.
Weaponised Information and a Call to Public Vigilance
The spy chief highlighted the particular danger of weaponised information, where falsehoods are spread online to erode public trust and amplify fractures within Western democracies. "The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in this Russian approach," she warned, stating it will continue until Putin's calculus is forced to change.
In an unusual move, Metreweli called on the British public to play a role in national resilience. She suggested schools should educate children to spot online disinformation, check news sources, and be wary of social media algorithms designed to trigger intense reactions like fear.
On Ukraine, she accused Putin of "dragging out negotiations" for a peace deal while shifting the immense cost of the war onto the Russian population. Her comments come as former US President Donald Trump attempts to broker a new peace initiative. Metreweli firmly stated that Britain's support for Kyiv would endure regardless of Moscow's stalling tactics, underscoring that Ukraine's fate is fundamental to global security.
Concluding her assessment, the MI6 chief described a world "more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades", where advanced technologies like AI and quantum computing are shifting power dynamics and making the global balance more unpredictable. Her agency, she affirmed, is adapting rapidly to counter these evolving threats.
